"Photo: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (left) paid a visit to BufferBox co-founders Aditya Bali (centre) and Mike McCauley at last year’s Techtoberfest. Less than two months later, Google acquired BufferBox.
It’s an admittedly odd sight: grown men in leather shorts and feathered hats, hopping up and down while slapping themselves on the thighs and soles.
It’s also a sight that conjures instant reminders of things less odd: that it’s Thanksgiving, that Oktoberfest is here, that I’m home.
For these reasons, I’ve always felt a bit sorry for people who don’t get to live in Waterloo Region – not because they miss out on the schuhplattlers, schnapps bars and schnitzel, but because of the upbeat feeling that pervades this community every year around now.
It’s a festive time, when we take a few days to savour the harvest of our hard work.
That makes it an equally great time for Techtoberfest, Communitech’s annual celebration of entrepreneurship.
Since it’s a startup festival, it’s as much about the work as it is the partying, as the list of keynotes suggests. These are people who, as they say, like to get shit done.
Having said that, the Waterloo Region tech community has much to celebrate since we launched Techtoberfest a year ago (even if we don’t get around to donning the leather shorts and slapping ourselves). A sampling:
- We made it onto the Startup Genome-Telefónica list of the world’s top 20 startup ecosystems for the first time.
- Less than two months after BufferBox co-founder Mike McCauley dubbed our first Techtoberfest Demo Day “a scene to be reckoned with,” his parcel-kiosk startup was acquired by Google and welcomed into the search giant’s Kitchener-Waterloo engineering operation.
- Communitech marked 15 years of success since it was founded by local tech entrepreneurs in 1997.
- Paul Graham, founder of California’s exclusive Y Combinator startup accelerator, said the applications YC receives from University of Waterloo companies are better than those from any other university.
- Communitech’s HYPERDRIVE accelerator launched its second and third cohorts, and announced the first acquisition of a graduate company.
- Communitech made space its next frontier as the lead agency in DATA.BASE, a multi-agency initiative to commercialize information gathered by low-orbit satellites.
- Kitchener-based Thalmic Labs was inundated with pre-orders for its MYO wearable-computing armband and raised a $14.5-million Series A investment round, the largest yet for a Y Combinator graduate company.
- Boulder, Colo.-based venture capitalist, startup guru and author Brad Feld visited the Communitech Hub and declared its energy levels “off the charts.”
- Vidyard raised a $6-million Series A round and moved into larger offices for the second time in less than a year due to its rapid growth.
- After 91 years as one of the country’s most recognizable brands, Canadian Tire rebooted its retail strategy by opening a development space inside the Communitech Hub, proving that innovation isn’t just for high-tech companies.
- Startup Weekend, a global initiative to encourage innovative entrepreneurship, held its first and second Kitchener-Waterloo events.
- HYPERDRIVE Cohort 2 companies travelled to New York City to meet with top-tier startup advisers including Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal Ventures and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
- Waterloo-based Kik Interactive raised a $19.5-million Series B investment round to scale its popular mobile messaging platform.
- Deloitte Consulting released a study that showed Communitech’s five-year, $107-million digital strategy is delivering well ahead of schedule.
- Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey visited Waterloo Region and announced that Square, his mobile-payment startup, will locate a permanent engineering office here.
- Motorola opened an office in Waterloo Region and began hiring.
- Waterloo Region hosted a sold-out CityAge conference, sponsored by Communitech, to highlight the importance of city-building in knowledge-based urban economies.
- Wilfrid Laurier University established a venture fund – kicked off with a $1-million donation from Mike and Hennie Stork – in which entrepreneurship students will invest in real startups as part of their education.
By the time Techtoberfest rolls around again next year, I hope to be able to share a highlight list as sparkling as this one.
My ability to do so will depend on the hard work, creativity and risk tolerance of a good many people, of course, but for now, let’s celebrate – leather shorts and feathered hats optional.
Anthony Reinhart is Communitech’s Director of Editorial Strategy and senior staff writer. View from the ‘Loo is a weekly look at the issues, people and events that shape Waterloo Region’s technology sector."
